This gripping collection begins with "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," in which an unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge. "Apt Pupil," the inspiration for the film of the same name about top high school student Todd Bowden and his obsession with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. "The Body" is the story of four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. In "The Breathing Method" a disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank redemption -- Apt pupil -- The body -- The breathing method.